Despite all their wickedness and evil deeds, everyone secretly loves a villain, and now scientists have discovered why.
From Voldemort to The Joker to Ursula in The Little Mermaid, a new study has found that humans are hardwired to see the good in even the most horrifying characters.
The research, conducted by the University of Michigan, found that no matter how flawed, power-hungry, or selfish movie villains are, most of us are still drawn to their dark side, believing they must have some kind of redeeming quality.
“In other words,” explained the study’s lead author, Valerie Umscheid, “people believe there’s a mismatch between a villain’s outward behaviors and their inner, true selves, and this is a bigger gap for villains than for [. . .] heroes.”
From Voldemort [. . .] to the Joker and Ursula in The Little Mermaid, scientists have discovered that there’s something within human wiring that helps them see the good in even the most horrifying characters.
